The Rant

Aura of Annoyance

OMG. Think Lineage 2 in space. Well, sort of in space, but not so much. Sci-Fi themed, but planet bound on 1 of 4 planets (you travel in space, but you do not actually do anything in space) sort of like the first generation of SWG.

Ok, so if Lineage 2 isn't enough to make you turn away, I tried the 10-day free trial and uninstalled it the first day. Graphics are mediocre (think original AO level). Screen size is not adjustable. Normal translation issues and piss-poor word wrapping in chat. Font size is not adjustable. The tutorial teaches you to move, move the camera, equip and shoot, but none of the practical things as in how to interact with vendors, join parties, etc.

It has been out of beta for a few months, I expected it to be a bit more polished than somethings I have seen in beta, but alas, I was sorely mistaken. The graphics are twitchy when running up and down stairs. Come on. And somewhere I missed the is autofire on or not? And since it was not on, how can I tell how often I should click to shoot the thing? How about mining? Could I get some feedback that something is happening? I see the startup animation, but then it is another 30s of sitting there with standard animation before you see if something is happening (e.g. a rock shows up in inventory).

I will say this for the Korean export - At least you can start in 4 different classes with different skills, and do not have to wait 10-20 levels before you actually do something different than everyone else around you.

One last bit, every game should learn from both SWG and CoX when it come to character design - more clothes, more options, more tweaks = better. Even WoW could use some help here.

Next up, Deicide. This looks like Lineage 2 meets WoW. Should be good for a laugh. I'll post on that should I get on the freebie bit.